Door

ABSTRACT

A plastic faced door with a foam filled core has an extruded aluminum casing member extending around the entire periphery of the door to join the plastic facing panels. The edges of the panels are inturned and engaged in the aluminum extrusion casing and are distorted and held in engagement therewith by the formation of the foam core. A ferrous metal insert is positioned in the aluminum extrusion to provide a member attracting a magnetic flexible gasket exteriorly of the door.

Unite States Patent 1 [111 3,

Gill Dec. 9, 1975 DOOR 3,834,101 9/1974 Wilder et al. 52/620 [75]Inventor: Clyde E. Gill, Lennon, Mich. FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS73 Assigneez Lennon Manufacturing Inc 90,081 8/1967 France 52/619Lennon, Mich. Primary ExaminerI-Ienry C. Sutherland [22] Ffled: 1974Attorney, Agent, or FirmWebster B. Harpman [21] Appl. No.: 460,501

[57] ABSTRACT 52 us. (:1 52/620' 52/DIG 4 A Plastic faced with a foamfilled we has [51] Int. Cl. E04B 2/20 truded aluminum casing memberextending around [58] Field of Search 52/619 620 DIG 4 the entireperiphery of the door to join the plastic fac- 49/1516 ing panels. Theedges of the panels are inturned and engaged in the aluminum extrusioncasing and are dis- [56] References Cited torted and held in engagementtherewith by the formation of the foam core. A ferrous metal insert ispo- UNITED STATES PATENTS sitioned in the aluminum extrusion to providea memg; Sig g/ -23 ber attracting a magnetic flexible gasket exteriorlyof rien l 3,750,333 8/1973 Vance.... 52/620 the door. 3,796,008 3/1974Eakin 52/620 1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures A I r US. Patent Dec. 9 1975DOOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Thisinvention relates to doors and more particularly to a lightweight, rigidfoam filled door constructions particularly suitable for use in mobilehomes, trailers and the like although not limited thereto.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior structures of this type havecomprised metal facing plates with plastic extrusions defining theperiphery of the door and enclosing a foam core such as in US. Pat. No.3,750,333. Other prior art may be seen in US. Pat. Nos. 3,334,464,3,310,920 and 3,700,385.

This invention provides a structurally strong door, the visible surfacepanels of which may be readily and inexpensively formed of vacuum formedplastic panels so as to incorporate desired design with the aluminumextrusion comprising the peripheral edge of the door being completelylocated on the edges of the door and not visible from either sidethereof. The addition of a section of steel strapping or the likeenables a magnetic flexible gasket in a door frame to be magneticallyattracted to the otherwise non-magnetic door construction and thealuminum extrusion used in the edge of the door provides sturdy mountingfor a lock set on one side and hinges on the other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A door formed of vacuum formed plastic surfacesheets having inturned edges engaged between flanges of aluminumextrusions defining the periphery of the door are held in position by afoamed in place core which distorts the inturned edges of the plasticsurface sheets and secures them to the aluminum extrusions forming theperipheral edge of the door.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a door and doorframe,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 withparts broken away and parts in cross section,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section one line 3-3 of FIG. 1 with partsbroken away and parts in cross section, and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical section on line 4-4 of FIG. 1 with partsbroken away and parts in cross section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the form of the inventionchosen for disclosure herein, the door will be seen in FIG. 1 of thedrawings to be mounted in a frame and secured thereto by hinges. A frontpanel of the door is illustrated along with a frame preferably formed ofaluminum extrusions l2 and the hinges are indicated by the numeral 13. Alock set which may include a door knob is shown in broken lines andindicated by the numeral 14.

By referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a horizontal section on line2-2 of FIG. 1 may be seen and it will be observed that the door itselfcomprises front and back panels 10 and which are preferably vacuumformed plastic sheets and which have right angular offset flanges ontheir longitudinal edges as at 16 and 17. Similarly, as seen in FIGS. 3and 4, the panels 10 and 15 have flanges l6 and 17 on the top and bottomedges thereof. Thus, the panels 10 and 15 each have peripheral flanges16 and 17, respectively, and the flanges are distortable. The peripheraledge of the door as seen in FIG. 1 is defined by four sections of rigidaluminum extrusions or casing members 18 and 19 and in FIG. 2 of thedrawings the vertical peripheral edges of the door are formed by twosections of the extrusion 18 which is an elongated member or striphaving a flat outer surface and longitudinally extending inturned shortflanges 20 on the longitudinal edges thereof so formed that the overallwidth of the extrusion 18 is less than the overall width of the door asdefined by the front and back surface panels 10 and 15. A T-headedflange 21 is formed axially of the extrusion l8, and comprises a webintegral with the strip intermediate the edges thereof and a pair ofoppositely extending flanges on the web, with the parallel portions orflanges of the T-headed flange 21 spaced relative to the inner surfacesof the main longitudinal section of the extrusion l8 and the inturnedoffset flanges l6 and 17 of the front and back plastic panels 10 and 15positioned in the channels defined by the T-headed flanges 21 on theextrusion 18 with the offset engaging the opposite inner surfaces of theshort flanges 20 thereof.

Still referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, it will be observed that theframe 12 may be formed of aluminum extrusions supported on any desirablestructural member and that resilient magnetic gaskets 22 are mounted onthe frame 12 for sealing engagement with the longitudinal vertical edgesof the door. In order that these magnetic gaskets 22 can be attracted tothe nonferrous door, strips of steel strapping or similar material 23are positioned in the channels defined by the aluminum extrusion l8 andits T-shaped flange 21.

In forming the door, as illustrated in FIG. 2 and hereinbeforedescribed, the front and back surface panels 10 and 15 are vacuum formedof suitable heated plastic material to provide a desirable configurationand the inturned offset flanges 16 and 17 thereon. They are thenassembled into the peripheral frame formed of the four sections of thealuminum extrusions l8 and 19 which are then secured together at theircorners which will be understood by those skilled in the art and thedoor components thus assembled are held in a fixture while plastic foamis injected therein. The plastic foam, which may be polyurethane, isfoamed in place in the door and generates sufficient pressure, beingconfined by the fixture, to distort the inturned flanges l6 and 17 onthe front and back plastic panels 10 and 15 to lock them in thepositions illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings and beneaththe flanges 20 of the extrusions 18 and the inturned flanges on theedges of the extrusions 19.

When the foamed in place core has set, the door is removed from thefixture and comprises'a lightweight, solid, substantially-unitarystructure as the foam surrounds both sides of the T-headed flanges 21and 27 and thus secures the extrusions l8 and 19 in desired position.

Those skilled in the art will observe that secondary flanges 25 havinginturned edges may be formed on the T-headed flanges 21 so that cornerkey constructions can be inserted therein and retained thereby.Alternately metal fasteners may be employed and engaged in crosssectionally circular configurations 26 on modified, T-headed flanges 27as seen on the extrusions 19 in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings and whichextrusions are shown forming the upper and lower peripheral 3 edges ofthe door.

In FIG. 3 of the drawings, the upper horizontal portion of the doorframe 12 is formed of an aluminum extrusion having means carrying adeformable, magnetic gasket 28 arranged to sealingly engage the door byreason of the incorporation of a strip formed by ferrous material 29 inone of the channels of the extrusion 19.

By referring now to FIG. 4, a section through the bottom of the door andthe frame as seen in FIG. 1 is illustrated and it will be observed thata threshold is defined by several aluminum extrusions, generallyindicated by the numerals 30, one of which incorporates means forreceiving and retaining a resilient elongated arched gasket 31 whichextends upwardly and out of the threshold so as to wipingly engage thebottom of the door.

It will thus be seen that a simple efficient lightweight, durable doorconstruction has been disclosed which is particularly suitable for usein mobile homes, trailers, campers and the like although the door mayobviously be used in other applications including residential andcommercial buildings. The novel features of the door include the highinsulating value of the foamed in place core with the plastic surfacepanels and the isolation of the aluminum extrusions forming theperiphery of the door around the edges thereof and where they willconduct a minimum of cold or heat thereby. The incorporation of theferrous metal inserts in the aluminum extrusions enables magneticgaskets to be employed in sealing relation and the fact that the foamcore being foamed in place distorts the inturned offset flanged edges 16and 17 of the plastic surface panels of the door so as to lock them inrelation to the inturned short flanges of the peripheral extrusions 18and 19 insures the locking inter-engagement of the parts of the door andresults in a substantially unitary structure.

Although but one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed anddescribed herein it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatchanges and modifications may be made without departing from the spiritof the invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. A door comprising spaced, substantially parallel front and backplastic panels each having peripheral, distortable, inturned flangesthereon extending at a right angle to the plane of the panel, elongate,rigid, metallic casing members secured on the peripheral edges of saiddoor, said casing members each comprising a substantially flat stripparallel to the plane of the inturned flanges and having a width lessthan the thickness of the door and having an inner surface and an outersurface, said strips having continuously extending inturned rightangular flanges on their longitudinal edges, 21 web integral with thestrip on the inner surface thereof intermediate the longitudinal edgesand extending axially along the strip and disposed substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the strip, a pair of laterally outwardlyextending flanges on the web extending parallel to and spaced from theinner surface of the strip, the distortable flanges on the edge portionsof said front and back plastic panels extending into juxtaposition withsaid web on opposite sides thereof and positioned between the innersurface of said strips and said outwardly extending flanges on said web,said distortable flanges including an offset portion defining a shoulderbehind the flanges on the longitudinal edges of the strip, and a foamedin place core between said front and back plastic panels extending intocontact with said distortable flanges, distorting said distortableflanges of said front and back panels outwardly into proximity with thestrips between the inturned flanges on the edges thereof so as to securethe front and back plastic panels to the casing members.

1. A door comprising spaced, substantially parallel front and backplastic panels each having peripheral, distortable, inturned flangesthereon extending at a right angle to the plane of the panel, elongate,rigid, metallic casing members secured on the peripheral edges of saiddoor, said casing members each comprising a substantially flat stripparallel to the plane of the inturned flanges and having a width lessthan the thickness of the door and having an inner surface and an outersurface, said strips having continuously extending inturned rightangular flanges on their longitudinal edges, a web integral with thestrip on the inner surface thereof intermediate the longitudinal edgesand extending axially along the strip and disposed substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of the strip, a pair of laterally outwardlyextending flanges on the web extending parallel to and spaced from theinner surface of the strip, the distortable flanges on the edge portionsof said front and back plastic panels extending into juxtaposition withsaid web on opposite sides thereof and positioned between the innersurface of said strips and said outwardly extending flanges on said web,said distortable flanges including an offset portion defining a shoulderbehind the flanges on the longitudinal edges of the strip, and a foamedin place core between said front and back plastic panels extending intocontact with said distortable flanges, distorting said distortableflanges of said front and back panels outwardly into proximity with thestrips between the inturned flanges on the edges thereof so as to securethe front and back plastic panels to the casing members.